Download macbeth in (the shade of) iraq: crossing the borders

LINGUACULTURE, 2, 2010
MACBETH IN (THE SHADE OF) IRAQ: CROSSING
THE BORDERS OF POLAND, NATO AND THE
DEFENSIVE WAR
Jacek Fabiszak
Abstract:
The numerous Polish productions of Macbeth in an overt or covert fashion address
issues that have been at the core of political debate in the past decade, such as the state’s
engagement in military missions that are in fact real wars. Furthermore, they also
comment on the new Polish political system (is it still “new”?) and the situation of
individuals in it, how they can profit in it. The paper discusses productions such as
Andrzej Wajda’s (2004) from the Stary Theatre in Kraków, Maja Kleczewska’s (2004)
from the Kochanowski Theatre in Opole, Grzegorz Jarzyna’s (2005; the full title is
“2007: Macbeth”) from the Teatr Rozmaitości (TR) in Warsaw, and Piotr
Kruszczyński’s (2005) from the Polski Theatre in Warsaw.
Keywords: performance, reinterpretation, recontextualization, politics
In recent years in Poland particularly one play by Shakespeare has been used to
comment on the topical situations, especially the state’s engagement in what is
called military missions, but what has turned out to be in fact wars, ones fought
not in order to defend Poland, but – as it has been argued – to defend
democracy. Now, this is something of a paradox: on the one hand, the illegal
democratic opposition under the communist regime sought and fought to bring
democracy in Poland; for this reason, Poles feel that it is justified they be
perceived as fighters for democracy (for the first time Poland was actively
involved in the “defence of democracy” in Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Furthermore, it corroborates a romantic myth of fighting for “yours, and our
cause”, viz. freedom. On the other hand, however, such a stance runs counter to
another, perhaps even more significant myth, that of the justified defensive war,
linked with the threats Poland received from its neighbours (and the partitions it
went through). The numerous productions of Macbeth in an overt or covert
fashion address these issues. Furthermore, they also comment on the new Polish
political system (is it still “new”?) and the situation of individuals in it, how they
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can profit in it. The productions discussed will include Andrzej Wajda’s (2004)
from the Stary Theatre in Kraków, Maja Kleczewska’s (2004) from the
Kochanowski Theatre in Opole, Grzegorz Jarzyna’s (2005; the full title is
“2007: Macbeth”) from the Teatr Rozmaitości (TR) in Warsaw, and Piotr
Kruszczyński’s (2005) from the Polski Theatre in Warsaw.
1. Andrzej Wajda’s Macbeth (2004)
Wajda’s production is quite surprising in his theatrical oeuvre. It turns out that
his previous attempt to approach Macbeth was the 1969 teleplay, shot partially
on location, partially in the television studio. Many critics view Wajda’s new
production in the light of his famous theatrical rendering of Dostoyevsky’s
Crime and Punishment. Such a context, however, does not seem to be fully
justified, if only for one fundamental reason: the age of the protagonists.
Surprisingly enough, the actors playing the main roles – Krzysztof Globisz (as
Macbeth) and Iwona Bielska (Lady Macbeth) are an aging couple, not young
and ambitious people who cannot wait for their chance to seize power.
Consequently, it is not that they are impatient; in Wajda’s production they seem
to grab the last chance that fate offers them. The production’s pessimism and
gloomy nature is further enhanced by the décor: Wajda and the stage designer
Krystyna Zachwatowicz keep it as simple as possible; its characteristic feature is
that it is monochromatic, just black and white, with the dominance of the
former. The costumes are likewise dark and sober, whereas the main element of
the stage design are the prevalent black plastic bags containing dead bodies of
the casualties of war.
This is how the performance actually opens: the bare floorboards of the
stage are strewn with plastic bags containing the bodies of killed soldiers: the
symbol of war, the symbol of a battle just fought (one cannot fail to recall at this
point the first scenes of Polański’s filmic Macbeth, in which the battleground is
also covered with mutilated bodies of warriors). A red ribbon ties the bags to the
necks of the bodies. Significantly, the Witches in Wajda’s play actually do
appear in such black bags, with their heads hidden under bandages, thus
becoming, as Piotr Gruszczyński1 observed, the spirits of war destruction. When
they utter their lines, the witches disappear among the dead bodies by simply
lying down.
War imagery is in the production also marked by the black uniforms
which the protagonists (and other characters) actually wear, stylised on modern
military outfit. Interestingly, Wajda and Zachwatowicz do not stop at that; they
1
Piotr Gruszczyński, “Wiedźmy wojny” [Witches of War], at: http://www.eteatr.pl/pl/artykuly/6700,druk.html
MACBETH IN (THE SHADE OF) IRAQ: CROSSING THE BORDERS OF POLAND
85
attempt to extend the play onto the whole of the stage production, having
stagehands dressed in the Spetsnaz uniforms, wearing balaclavas. Thus, the
oppressive, even totalitarian atmosphere of the performance is further
underscored. As one of the critics remarked, Wajda’s show is about the presentday war, as if it were a CNN-report.
Wajda does not specify the locality of his production. He just presents
the image of war at the beginning of the 21st century, drawing on the grim
experience of the wars in Bosnia, Chechnya, and of course Iraq. The
significance of these experiences lies in that the wars shocked the mass public
by the atrocities committed in them, mass murders of civilians, tortures of
POWs, construction of concentration camps, etc. This is the evil that Macbethlike soldiers, lured by a dream of power, may perpetuate.
2. Piotr Kruszczyński’s Macbeth (2005)
War is not the context in which Piotr Kruszczyński puts his Macbeth. On the
contrary, as one of the critics put it, it is a “country Macbeth” (Majcherek), or
even “a State-Owned Farm Macbeth”,1 situated in the Polish province, and
clearly alluding to contemporary Polish politicians.2 Of course, the image of war
is very much present in the production, despite the location. It is shown in a
most characteristic manner, though. Since Kruszczyński evokes the
contemporary mass culture, the world of the play is filtered through mass media,
especially television, steeped in the commercials. The war is naturally mediated
through television, but not in the grim reports from the front, but actually
narrated in the style typical of sports commentary – the spectator recognizes the
voice of a Polish well known football commentator, Dariusz Szpakowski.
Other tokens of contemporary war are rather scarce in the production.
Yet, they include guns and bullet-proof vests, which Macbeth and Banquo wear.
Furthermore, Kruszczyński’s Macbeth returns home from … the war in Iraq and
is welcomed by his parents (sic! this is not the only directorial intervention into
the original plot). Rather, Kruszczyński prefers to stress a most pessimistic
vision of the fictional world, one which – again – runs counter to Shakespearean
vision. Thus, Malcolm does not bring relief into the troubled Scotland, but
becomes another tyrant. What critics, generally reserved in praises in the
reviews of the production, appreciate is the manner in which the transfer of
power is signalled to the audience: by the change of huge portraits of Duncan,
1
Roman Pawłowski, “ Makbet z PGR-u” [A State-Owned Farm Macbeth].
Gazeta Wyborcza 13. 17-01-2005.
2
The same critic, Pawłowski compares Kruszczyński’s performance to Ivo
Brešan’s The Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja, successfully
shown on Polish television in 1985.
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Macbeth and Malcolm, respectively. Also, fate – symbolised in the play by the
mysterious figures of the Weird Sisters – is in Kruszczyński’s production
represented by children playing cards, which further underscores the
unpredictability and fickleness of fortune, its indifference to people’s lives. The
children may actually remind a film goer of the opening of Julie Taymor’s Titus,
in which a boy wreaks havoc on toy soldiers, which are soon transformed into
human figures.
3. Maja Kleczewska’s Macbeth (2004)
Kruszczyński’s production is also characterised by a fast sequence of short
scenes, resembling the editing typical of a video clip (that is why a critic –
Agnieszka Celeda - called it “A Video Clip Macbeth”). Likewise, Maja
Kleczewska’s performance is noted for its fast pace, to the extent that it has been
termed an “action movie Macbeth”.1 This term describes the production aptly
also in another respect: Kleczewska sets the play in the milieu of mafia and
mobsters. Of course, her characters are not the “honourable” mobsters of the
1940s one knows from the Godfather sequence of films. Rather, in the eyes of
yet another critic, the production is more like Goodfellas;2 it certainly quotes
from gangster movies.3 In the construction of the figures and action, Kleczewska
draws on two major sources: the increasing violence in contemporary life, on the
one hand, and the Tarantino style of cinema, on the other. From the former she
borrows strong scenes (which actually made some teachers at Opole secondary
schools think twice whether or not their students should see the performance),
from the latter she attempts to create a distance to the cruelties shown on stage.
As I have already signalled, not everybody approved of Kleczewska’s play; also,
critical voices were far from unanimous. Be that as it may, one aspect of the
production needs to be underscored: the director draws a most consistent vision
of one facet of contemporary evil. The drastic and explicit nature of violence in
the production should not be surprising in present-day theatre, especially in the
context of the In-Yer-Face plays by, for example, Sarah Kane or Mark
Ravenhill.
The source of evil in Kleczewska’s production is, similarly to
Kruszczewski’s play, mass culture, the perpetuating cycle of movies and
newsreels which accelerate violence. Therefore, violence in the performance is
represented by mass culture tokens. For example, Lady Macduff is raped and
1
Jacek Melchior, “Makbet Polski” [Polish Macbeth]. Wprost 9. 26-02-2005.
Marek Świercz, “Makbet z ferajny” [A Goodfellas Macbeth]. Dziennik
Zachodni 110. 12-05-2005.
3
Kleczewska’s decision to set the action of her play in the milieu of
the gangster world reminds one of Michael Reilley’s Men of Respect (1991), located in
New Orleans, with a Voodoo priestess as an equivalent of the Witches.
2
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killed by figures wearing Mickey Mouse masks. This is one of the many scenes
of utter cruelty in the context of readily-recognised mass culture icons.
Furthermore, violence in the production is tinted with perversity (also visible in
Jarzyna’s show). Thus, the Weird Sisters are presented as drag queens. They are
present on stage throughout the production, which – of course – reminds a
reader in English literature of the Medieval stage conventions whereby God
presided, as it were, over a morality. It seems that it is precisely the perverse
nature of evil that attracts characters, who in this way test the limits of their
power. The only way to counteract this celebration of cruelty is to use against
the degenerate Macbeth a counter-terrorist commando, which brings us to the
theme of the present-day American-style war: on terrorism.
An interesting feature of Kleczewska’s production is her search for new
spaces. Her production requires a space vaster than most traditional theatres,
which made the jurors of the Kalisz theatre festival, held on the stage of the
Kalisz theatre, actually travel to Opole to watch the play, because the stage in
Kalisz proved too small. The momentum of Kleczewska’s play is similar to
Grzegorz Jarzyna’s version of Macbeth, which actually crosses the borders of
both the theatre and Poland.
4. Grzegorz Jarzyna’s 2007: Macbeth (2005)
Jarzyna moves his play to 1. a non-theatrical space of the old Waryński factory
in Warsaw, and 2. Iraq, occupied by American troops. As the title of the
performance suggests, the action is set in a nearby future; it appears, however,
that this is a mere trick to provide a distance to the events shown on stage, or –
to be precise – stages of the factory’s shop floor and galleries.
Macbeth in Jarzyna’s production is a U.S. major, commander of the
First Scottish Assault Unit, who – against the good advice and an explicit order
of his superior, General Duncan – decides to carry out an attack on the most
wanted terrorist, Riazan. Characteristically, Macbeth kills the terrorist when the
latter is genuinely praying in the mosque, simultaneously murdering accidental
worshippers. Macbeth celebrates the execution of his enemy, beheading him
with a knife (needless to say, he will suffer a similar death). One of his soldiers
actually takes a digital picture of Macbeth posing with the terrorist’s head in his
hand. Here, Jarzyna clearly alludes to the terrorist practice of killing foreigners
whereby terrorists ceremoniously behead their captives in front of the camera, as
well as the commandoes’ custom of taking photographs of their feats
(exemplified in Poland with the pictures of the Grom assault forces
collaborating with the Americans in the initial phases of the second Iraq war,
which seeped into the media). It is not accidental therefore that one of the critics
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Roman Pawłowski1 referred to the production as a post-Abu Ghraib version.
Interestingly, it is not so much that the American troops torture the Iraqis, but
that the Americans torture themselves, especially in the scene of Macbeth’s
welcoming party to celebrate Duncan’s entry into the former’s castle/military
zone. It is here that the American troopers organize an orgy, engaging in
homosexual sex, tolerated by the commanders. Incidentally, the spectators also
view yet another scene of explicit sex: Macbeth and his wife are having an
intercourse after the murder of Duncan, against a lit fridge containing coca cola
cans. This also may serve as an example of perverse nature of evil spreading
among the troops.
The degeneration of the soldiers is in the production further signalled by
Malcolm’s stance and the figure of the conjurer, entertaining Macbeth’s guests
at a feast, an equivalent of the play’s Act 3 Scene 4, in which Banquo’s ghost
appears. Malcolm, a young officer, actually stands up against his father when
Duncan decides to reward Macbeth by nominating him the commander of the
Cawdor air base. Malcolm bitterly reminds Duncan of the circumstances of
Riazan’s death (he was captured in a shrine, at prayer), which – in Malcolm’s
romantic vision of the war – was dishonourable. Characteristically, Malcolm is
ignored by his father and his is the only voice on military honour we hear in the
production. Nevertheless, it – on the one hand – contrasts sharply with the
erosion of the army morale, and – on the other – sheds a positive light on the
character of Malcolm, who, according to the play, will replace Macbeth.2
The figure of the conjurer is one of the whole series of mysterious
characters. Dressed in the colours of the American flags, he takes a rabbit out of
his top hat and performs other stereotypical tricks. Quite soon, however, he is
transformed into a grotesque character wearing a cap with long rabbit-like ears
who prophesies to Macbeth about the latter’s future. In this way, he becomes a
figment of Macbeth’s imagination as well as one of the three incarnations of the
Witches.
The first incarnation, appearing just after Riazan’s execution is an Arab
woman (the actress playing the part is dark complexioned and has Arab
lineaments: slightly aquiline thin nose, and large dark eyes), dressed in the
characteristic chador. She speaks the prophecy in a loud, unnatural voice, as if
she were possessed. Later on the same actress in the same dress appears as Lady
Macbeth’s servant, thus undergoing further scenic transformation. The final
1
Roman Pawłowski, “Makbet po Abu Ghraib” [A post Abu Ghraib Macbeth].
Gazeta Wyborcza 117. 21-05-2005.
2
Malcolm’s protest also draws the Polish spectator’s attention to the
concepts of justified war. According to the Romantic myth only defensive war or
fight for
freedom (not only that of Poland, but any country – “for yours and our freedom”, as the
slogan had it) are justified. Naturally, Jarzyna’s production undermines and questions
this myth.
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89
incarnation of the Witches turns out to be the Doctor, who looks after Lady
Macbeth. This role is played by an actress, with a bald head and dressed in
white. She also makes a prophesy, this time in English, when actually talking to
Macbeth. In fact, she may be treated not so much as the Doctor figure, but as a
symbol of death, a version of modern Grim Reaper (which in Polish happens to
be feminine). This symbolic reading of the character is corroborated by the
scene of Lady Macbeth’s death: she dies in a laundry wrapped in sheets from a
washing machine, sheets which appear to actually strangle her. Shortly before it
happens the spectator notices the Doctor figure seated in the laundry, as if
waiting for her turn to use the machine or waiting for the machine to finish the
laundry, indifferently observing Lady Macbeth, without reacting to her
predicament. Of course, Lady Macbeth’s death in the laundry is a theatrical
translation of the sleepwalking scene from the play (earlier in the production, we
see how she cleans the space where Macbeth butchered Riazan with a garden
hose).
The laundry is one of the many locations or stages used in the
production. It is separated from other locales by a translucent plastic screen, or
curtain, which gives it a look of an abattoir. Incidentally, it is against the screen
that the Murderer’s brains are splashed when Macbeth shoots him in the head,
after hearing a report on the killing of Banquo. Jarzyna also recreates in his play
other localities; the production opens with a view of HQ, where General Duncan
and his staff officers actually watch on numerous TV screens the development
of military actions (as a critic observed, war in this production is mediated
through television; this is how the Western public is informed about the war
today, this is how war is experienced today in the West). Using the vast space of
the shop floor, Jarzyna – with the help of spotlights and appropriate sound
effects – presents the landing of a helicopter, in which Duncan arrives in
Macbeth’s zone. The director thus creates a number of stages, positioned both
horizontally and vertically in the space of the old factory. The post-industrial
interior significantly facilitates Jarzyna’s image of contemporary Iraqi Macbeth.
5. A Coda
To finish this brief discussion of the memorable season 2004/2005, in which
“Macbeth ruled with absolute power”1 I would like to mention one more
production, prepared by the avant-garde Biuro Podróży Theatre from Poznan,
famous for its fringe performances, and directed by Paweł Szkotak. This
production whose title is Who is this man in blood? [Kim jest ten człowiek we
1
Jacek Sieradzki, “Zły Makbet” [Bad/evil Macbeth]. Polityka 29. 23-07-2005.
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krwi?] is also a comment on contemporary war, be it Bosnia, Chechnya or Iraq.
The action is situated in a wood; the trees symbolise characters; when one of
them dies, it is lit and burns; in the course of time, the wood becomes a burning
wood. The references to the war today are contained, among others, in the
characters’ using modern weapons and virtually gunning down their opponents
and in the Witch figures, who look like the suicidal Shaheeds, and whom
Macbeth (in a uniform actually reminiscent of the Nazis from World War II)
eventually kills with his gun. Thus, in an outdoor performance presented in the
space of the Poznań Old Market Square at the annual Malta Theatre Festival
Szkotak builds a vision of total war, which crosses civilization and temporal
borders, and which haunts and will haunt the West. It is a war which
encompasses the experience and atrocities of World War II, Bosnia, Chechnya,
Iraq, but also Rwanda. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is thus used once again to
explain or perhaps ask questions about the growth of evil in contemporary
world, questions like the one posed in the title of Szpotak’s production.